CHRISTINE TOBIN - A Thousand Kisses DeepTrail Belle Records
TBR03Christine Tobin (voice); Phil Robson
(guitar); Dave Whitford (double bass); Adriani Adewale (percussion); Huw Warren
(accordion); Gwilym Simcock (piano on Track 6); Nick Smart (trumpet on Track
11)Recorded August 6 & September 12, 2013This latest
offering from singer, Christine Tobin is a far cry from her 2012 album, Sailing To Byzantium that put music to
the poetry of W.B. Yeats, and finds her working with the words and music of
singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen.Tobin
has made no secret of her admiration for the work of Cohen featuring one of his
songs in all her live performances since the mid-nineties, and hasrecorded two of his compositions on previous
albums, with ‘Story of Isaac’ appearing on House
of Women in 1998 and ‘Towerof
Song’ from You Draw The Line in 2003.As with
anything that that she sings Christine Tobin brings a freshness and originality
to her chosen material, with her voice and delivery expressing a wide emotional
range that is deeply affecting. Nine of
the eleven tracks are superbly and sympathetically arranged by Tobin, and guitarist
Phil Robson which bring new life and meaning to the poetry inherent in the
lyrics, and also incorporate a wonderful tribute to Miles and Zawinul’s ‘In A
Silent Way/It’s About That Time’ to end the aforementioned ‘Tower of Song’. Indeed, the
key to the success of the album rests in the arrangements and instrumentation
that give the music a distinctive yet contemporary feel, and with Christine’s
approach and reverence to the material she has chosen to work with. Impossible
also to find a comparison by which Tobin’s work can be measured, although as
fanciful as it may at first appear, she has the same gift in delivering meaning
beyond the words as Billie Holiday did, imbuing the most melancholy of line
with a hint of optimism and joy. Repeated
listening to this superb recording has had the effect of delaying the writing
of this review (“I’ll just listen to it one more time!),whilst making any sort of impartial opinion
on favourite tracks an impossibility, as this changes on each hearing. However,
as a closing contradiction to the above, the duet pairing Christine with
pianist Gwilym Simcock piano on ‘Anthem’ is a truly a thing of beauty.Reviewed by Nick Lea